


Valentine's Day Blues

by absolutely_mendokusai



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Misunderstandings, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29727354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/absolutely_mendokusai/pseuds/absolutely_mendokusai
Summary: In which Shuuichi doesn't believe Kokichi's love confession on Valentine's Day.
Relationships: Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 131





	Valentine's Day Blues

**Author's Note:**

> happy valentine's day

Valentine’s Day, Singles Appreciation Day, call it what you want but Shuuichi didn't like it. It was just another reminder of his lack of love life. 

"Saihara-chan!" Arms wrapped around his back right as he stepped through the school date. He didn't need to turn around to know that the boy hugging him was part of his reason for his angst on this.

"Good morning, Ouma-kun."

"How's my beloved detective doing?" said Ouma, stepping in front of him, smile big and wide in the morning. 

There it was, the endless casual flirting that meant nothing. Maybe it would be better if Ouma-kun teased him cruelly like he did others in the class, with insults aiming straight at the heart instead of being all smiles and fluttering eyelashes. All ‘you’re my favorite, Saihara-chan~’ and 'maybe we were lovers in another life, Saihara-chan~'. It was almost too much at times. Clearly Ouma knew about Shuuichi’s crush on him, but he couldn't help it.Ouma was an enigma within an enigma. Of course Shuuichi would fall in love with him. It felt like Ouma was constantly baiting him, with hints of truth.

Ouma usually wasn’t at the school this early in the morning, typically arriving seconds before class started. 

“I’m doing okay.”

“Only okay? Come on, it’s such a love-ly day!” Ouma grinned and tugged on his arm. "I need to talk to you about something real quick. Come with me?"

“Why can’t you say it here?”

“It’s too noisy here,” said Ouma. 

Shuuichi looked around. It was the typical light trickle of students that happened during this time of the day. Still, it wasn’t like Shuuichi had any reason to say no, so he let Ouma manhandle him across the school until he found a corner he thought quiet enough, right under a tree.

Right under a tree on the most romantic day of the year, just like every cheesy romance ever.

Oh no. 

The notorious prankster got right to it. "Do you have any plans for today? Or are you going to wallow in loneliness?"

"I- I’m not going to wallow, but I don’t have any plans." Ouma wasn’t actually going to do this, was he? Confess to him as a prank? That seemed over-the-top, even for him. 

He should run. He should run away.

"I can do something about that,” continued Ouma. 

"You don’t have to!"

"But I want to." Ouma took a step closer. "See, I really, really, like you. And you like me, too, right? So we should be each other's Valentine’s!" said the boy with a huge grin.

It was way too early for this. Shuuichi covered his face. Even if he knew it was a prank, Ouma telling him this, it was too much. Something he had dreamed about.

 _It’s just a lie_ , Shuuichi told himself. "Stop.”

"I know what you're thinking, but I'm really not lying. I made you some chocolates, see?" Shuuichi peered through his fingertips enough to see Ouma pulled out a neatly tied plastic bag of lopsided chocolates. "The reason these chocolates are so sweet is because I was trying to make them more like you, and not 'cause I accidentally used too much sugar."

Shuuichi could almost trick himself into believing the words. But no. Ouma’s eyes had the same twinkle in them he always did when he was excited. He was having fun right now, seeing him squirm. It was horrible, absolutely horrible. 

He uncovered his face. Ouma’s too wide smile wavered. Shuuichi bit his lip carefully, trying to construct his words in a way without revealing too much about his feelings.

"This isn’t a very nice prank to pull, Ouma-kun, especially on Valentine’s Day."

"It's not!" Ouma snapped,bringing out his acting chops well enough Shuuichi jumped a bit. Better anger than crying. "Listen, it’s the truth. I was thinking, after school, we could-"

"Can you please stop? It’s not funny."

Ouma was silent for a brief moment, giving Shuuichi a deep look, before putting his arms behind his head and smiling wide. "Nishishi! You’re right! Man, you're getting so good at telling when I'm lying. It's impressive. You didn’t fall for that at all!” He let out a sigh. “Soon I won't be able to keep anything from you." Ouma looked down at the chocolates in his hand, smirking. "These were made with ghost pepper sauce, by the way. Lots of it. Like, half a bottle."

Shuuichi snatched the chocolates from Ouma. "I think I’ll dispose of these."

"Hey! Give them back!"

“You’ll just try to give them to someone else. No more fake confessions, okay? This is a- A special day.” He slipped the chocolates into his bag. “It's not nice."

“I’m sorry, Saihara-chan,” said Ouma softly. “I didn’t want to make you sad, really.” 

Ouma was apologizing for a prank? Shuuichi must look really pathetic. “It’s fine, I forgive you."

"Of course you do. Well, I gotta go," said Ouma, moving away.

"Wait, we can-” Ouma had already sprinted off to cause chaos elsewhere, leaving Shuuichi awkwardly standing there. It was hard to be angry at Ouma. Well, at least for Shuuichi, he knew some of his other friends thought differently. Still, he did everything with such energy. He wasn’t malicious (99 percent of the time, at least.) It was just a joke gone wrong.

It still stung a bit, though.

* * *

Shuuichi recounted the events of the morning to his friends at lunch because he needed somebody to consult with.

Akamatsu frowned. "Are you sure he was lying? If Ouma-kun liked anyone, it would be you." 

"He put ghost pepper sauce in the chocolates," said Shuuichi.

“I mean, do we really need evidence? Ouma always takes his jokes too far,” said Momota. 

“He’s usually nicer to Saihara-kun though,” said Akamatsu.

Shuuichi glanced over to the other side of the room, where Ouma was eating lunch with Amami and Iruma. Iuma laughed loudly as Ouma scowled at her, before noticing Shuuichi was watching and smirked. Shuuichi looked away.

“He did apologize. That's rare. I really think he just meant it as a joke. Maybe… Maybe he didn't know I had a crush on him?"

“Everyone knows,” said Harukawa. 

Shuuichi groaned. Akamatsu patted his shoulder.

* * *

All Shuuichi wanted to do was to get out and go to his dorm without any more incidents. Unfortunately he ran into Ouma and Amami, who were arm in arm.

"The café is having a deal where couples buy one, get one free, so we’re going to pretend to be in love," Ouma explained, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"That sounds like fun."

"What are you doing today, Saihara?" asked Amami. 

“He’s going to wallow,” siad Ouma.

"No wallowing. I’m just going to go back to the dorms."

"Pathetic, huh?" said Ouma. "Well, let’s hurry, Amami-chan. We need to beat the rush!"

Ouma moved to pull Amami, but Amami resisted and pulled his arm away..

"Shit.” His eyes grew wide. “I just remembered! I have something to do after school!"

"No, you don't, Amami-chan," said Ouma flatly, face entirely blank. 

Amami shook his head. “No, it’s really important. Sorry, but I can’t go.”

"You aren't going to leave me alone, aren’t you?” wailed Ouma, stomping his foot on the ground. “I don’t want to get rejected again today!”

"All right, calm down." Amami patted Ouma on the shoulder and turned to Shuuichi. "You can go with Saihara-kun, can’t you?"

It was still too early for this.

“I asked you though!” said Ouma. 

“Weren’t you going to ask him to go with you, though?”

He was? When?

"If Ouma-kun wants me to go with him, I can," Shuuichi said.

Ouma looked back and forth between the both of them for a brief moment before lunging at Shuuichi and wrapping around his arm. "I'll rather hang out with my beloved detective instead of the traitor Amami-chan anyday" He then threw Amami a look so dark it made Shuuichi fear for him. 

Amami's smile however, remained unmoving."Well, see you later," he said, walking off with a wave. Ouma stuck his tongue out at him.

"... Did he say what it was he needed to do?" asked Shuuichi.

"Oh, who cares." Ouma pulled at his arm. "Come on!"

* * *

Ouma had insisted on clinging to Shuuichi’s arm as they entered the cafe, claiming that if they suspected they weren’t a couple, they wouldn’t be allowed in. Shuuichi highly doubted the underpaid workers cared that much, but was done enough with the day that he didn’t want to argue with him.

Shuuichi was about to pull his money out to pay, knowing full well Ouma’s habit of “losing his wallet” whenever he went to eat with someone. Before he could though, Ouma swiftly pulled out cash.

“Of course I’ll pay for you, Saihara-chan! I sprung this date on you so suddenly after all, it would be cruel not to,” he said.

“I can pay for my own,” said Shuuichi.

“This is a date,” said Ouma, nudging his head towards the cashier. “Let me spoil my beloved Saihara-chan.”

Shuuichi nodded. If Ouma wanted to be kind today, well, it would certainly help his vank.

They sat down at a table, Ouma’s strawberry shortcake in front of him and Shuuichi’s chocolate cake. Shuuichi bit into his cake. It was rich. Too rich. Shuuichi really wasn’t one for sweets. Ouma however, was happily eating his cake.

Shuuichi looked around the cafe. Lovey-dovey couples, wherever you looked. Fortunately nobody from his class, but he recognized Koizumi and Saionji from a higher grade together. Were they dating? Shuuichi had thought they were just friends. Saionji could be just as manipulative as Ouma, so maybe they were lying. Or maybe they had a more successful confession this morning. There was no way to know for sure. Did… Did people look at him and Ouma right now and assume that they were together?

“You’ve barely eaten your cake,” said Ouma.

Shuuichi jumped back to attention. That’s right. Ouma had brought this for him, so it would be rude not to eat it. He took another bite.

“You don’t like it?” asked Ouma, sounding genuinely concerned.

“It’s fine, really! I’m just not as big of a fan of sweets as you, you know that.”

"You shouldn’t have gotten something that heavy and rich then." Ouma carefully positioned on his fork a bite of strawberry shortcake with the perfect ratio of strawberries, cake, and whipped cream. “This is lighter. Try some,” said Ouma, sticking out the fork. 

_Indirect kiss,_ screamed Shuuichi’s thoughts. The Valentine’s Day teasing wasn’t over, huh "My cake is enough.”

“Not even a try?” said Ouma sadly. He shook his head and brought back a smile. “Well, then I want a bite of yous.”

Ouma opened his mouth, expecting Shuuichi to feed him some. Shuuichi instead slid the plate towards him.

“Help yourself,” said Shuuichi.

Ouma frowned, but took a bite of the cake with his own fork, before saying, “you aren’t having much fun, are you?”

"The cake is good, really! Thank you for buying it for me!"

"You’re still mad, aren’t you?” Ouma squished up his shortcake with his fork, spreading it flat on the plate. “I apologized, and brought you to this nice cafe. I even paid. What more do you want?" 

Wait, paying was Ouma’s way of apologizing? Shuuichi pulled the chocolate cake back towards him and took another bite. "I forgive you, really.”

“You just have the Valentine’s Day Blues, don’t you?” said Ouma. "It's not all bad. Even if you’re doomed to be alone forever, like me and you, at least there's good sales on sweets."

“I don’t like sweets,” said Shuuichi.

“You really did wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, huh?”

“Maybe,” said Shuuichi.

“... If you’re not going to eat your cake, can I have it?” asked Ouma

Shuuichi slid it over again. 

Ouma smiled, pushed the remains of the strawberry shortcake to the side, and started work on the chocolate cake. “I’ll buy you something you actually like tomorrow. Don’t worry,” he said in between bites.

“You really don’t have to make anything up to me. It was just a prank. You don’t have to go out of your way to apologize.” Ouma wasn’t usually one to grovel 

“It’s not a very good prank though if it doesn’t make anyone happy.”

"Didn't your friends like it? I saw Iruma-san laughing at lunch."

"That’s ‘cause Iruma-chan has a horrible sense of humor. She laughs at the pain of others," said Ouma. “So cruel~. I’m the class clown, not bully.”

 _Try telling that to Kiibo._ “Amami-kun said you were going to ask me here”

“Yes. this morning! Weren’t you listening?”

Now that he thought about it, Ouma was mentioning something about after school before Shuuichi interrupted him. So it was a trick to get him to go here?“Ouma-kun, I would've gone with you here if you just asked normally. I may not love lying like you do, but I can tolerate it.”

“Yeah…” Ouma resumed his cake squashing. ”I don’t know how anyone could hate chocolate cake. You would have to be heartless.”

“It’s too rich. I would actually probably like your poisoned chocolates more.”

“Such a shame you threw them away, huh?” said Ouma.

“I haven’t yet.”

“Hm? Why not?” 

Shuuichi pulled them out of his bag.

"Even if they're laced with ghost pepper, it feels weird to throw chocolates in the garbage in front of everyone at school."

Ouma hummed. "So considerate, even of my fake feelings. You can throw them away now, I really don’t care. Want me to take them over to the garbage can for you?"

That would be the easy thing to do, but Shuuichi was curious. He opened the bag. "I've never had ghost pepper. Do you think the chocolate would cancel it out? Spicy chocolate is a thing, isn’t it?” 

Ouma put down his fork. "Considering a taste? I told you. I put so much in, you can probably barely taste the chocolates. Someone like you wouldn't be able to handle it. Give it back to me." Ouma leaned across the table. Saihara held them up high.

"I can handle a nibble, surely."

"No, you can't. Your detective curiosity getting the best of you?" Ouma lowered his voice. "Someone died from eating a ghost pepper once, you know? I’ve basically given you poison."

Shuuichi frowned. "What's the point of putting hot sauce in them if they aren't meant to be eaten?"

"Well, I knew you would figure out my lie, so-"

“But I thought your plan was to get me to say yes so I’ll go to the cafe with you. I would’ve had these throughout the day if I believed you.” 

But then he would figure out Ouma was pulling a prank if he took a bite, right? Ouma’s plans usually didn’t have holes that obvious.. He took one of the bag and bit into it before Ouma could talk more circles around him. 

It was normal. Slightly burnt, and too sweet like Ouma said, but it was mostly edible. Shuuichi frowned. "It's fine."

He looked up at Ouma, who was twirling his hair and looking away. "Yeah, I lied about the ghost pepper. I made these in twenty minutes without thinking. I wasn’t going to put that much effort over a prank."

"But if you aren't going to put anything in them, why not just get normal chocolates from the store and repackage them?"

"I was going for an authentic feel!" Ouma snatched the chocolates back. "Jeez, you always overthink the dumbest things. I know you’re a detective, but sometimes the truth is right there in front of you."

The truth? "Like a love confession?"

Ouma stood up and stretched. "Hm, maybe. Depends on the confession, I suppose. I'm full, Saihara-chan. Let's go back to the dorms."

Shuuichi dwidn’t stand up. All the events of the day… It didn’t make sense. Was he..?

Ouma sighed and leaned over the table, looking right at Shuuichi. "Now you’re overthinking on whether you overthink things, aren’t you?"

"Ah… I mean…" 

"The life of a detective really is hard. You can’t take anything at face value."

"It's more like I can't take anything you do at face value," Shuuichi muttered, more to himself.

"I suppose that's my own fault, huh?" said Ouma softly, pulling away from the table. 

“No, I-”

Ouma was already heading out. Shuuichi quickly shoved the chocolates back into his bag and rushed after him.

The facts were that this morning Ouma had given him chocolates and attempted to invite him somewhere. Of course, he gave it up pretty fast when Shuuichi said it was a prank… Butt Ouma never gives up on a lie, unless he’s cornered with enough evidence he has to. 

“Whatcha thinking about?’

Even now, Ouma was trying to make it up to him, wasn’t he?

“It’s true, isn’t it?” said Shuuichi. He turned towards Ouma.

Ouma’s eyes sparkled. “You finally believe that my organization’s real?”

“No!” Ouma crossed his arms and looked away. “I mean, I don’t have any evidence either way on that. I mean, I- I didn’t actually reject you earlier, did I?”

"It was implied,” said Ouma quickly. He hopped a few steps in front of Shuuichi, back now towards him as they walked.”I’m bored of this topic."

He needed to fix this. “If… If it was real… No, even if it was fake, I do like you, Ouma-kun, and I want you to know that. I… I should know you’re not that cruel, it’s just that you always tease me, and-

Ouma turned around suddenly. “Teasing? I tease you?”

Shuuichi wasn’t expecting that objection. “Yeah. you’re always calling me ‘your beloved’ and saying cheesy things like ‘I stole your heart.’”

“Saihara-chan, if I wanted to tease you, I would call you a stupid detective, which you clearly are. That was flirting.” Ouma sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Jeez, no wonder why you didn’t believe me if you didn’t have any build-up.”

“I- I really am sorry! I’ll understand why you wouldn’t want to go out with me anymore, if I’ve made you angry.”

"Oh, do you know what I'm really angry about?" 

“W-What?” Ouma was starting to act a bit scary. Shuuichi took a step back. 

Ouma suddenly grasped Shuuichi’s hands. "I put my heart and soul into making you chocolates and all I get is a 'it's fine.'" 

That was it? “They were burnt!”

“They were?” Ouma let go of his hands and slumped. “I knew I should’ve just gotten Toujou-san to make them for me.”

“I appreciate the effort, really. They’re… They’re very Ouma-kun.” Ouma huffed and continued walking. “Wait! Are we-”

“I’m not going to say I like you again, that was embarrassing enough the first time. I knew you wouldn’t believe me, stupid Amami-chan talked me into it,” he muttered.

“But are we dating now?”

“Of course,” said Ouma, taking his hand again. “You have a lot to make up to me on White Day, though.”

**Author's Note:**

> This isn’t horribly late, huh? We’re still in the same month at least. 
> 
> Anyway, I played Danganronpa with the Japanese dub, ‘cause I’m a nerd, so I’ve been thinking about watching Demon Slayer because Kokichi’s VA also voices Zentitsu with that. Also, Demon Slayer is an anime I should probably watch. But it’s fun looking at voice actors and what other characters you’ve seen that they’ve voiced, isn’t it? The fact Makoto and Byakuya have the same voice as Shinji and Kaworu gives me so much joy. 
> 
> Follow me on my [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/absolutely-mendokusai). please~! I have homework I don’t wanna do, so distract me.


End file.
